Taking the base chocolate cheesecake recipe and making some changes…

  1. Start like normal, float 2 pounds of foil cream cheese packages in warm water for 15 minutes to make them easy to mix.

  2. Change #1 - a real crust. While the cream cheese is having a spa day, take 6.6 ounces (1.25 cups) hazelnut meal or flour, 3 ounces (6 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, and 2 ounces (1/4 cup) granulated sugar. Mix in a big bowl and press into the bottom of a greased 9" springform pan. Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes to make the crust.

  3. Now, the cream cheese is ready to mix. Open the foil, drop it into a bowl, add in 1 1/2 cups of sugar and hit it with a hand mixer until smooth. No lumps, no wet spots, no dry spots.

3b) Add 3/4 cup dutch processed cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons vanilla, 2 teaspoons hazelnut extract (change #2), 1/4 cup Frangelico liquour (change #3), 5 eggs. Mix until smooth.

  1. Add an entire 10 oz. bag of miniature chocolate chips and hand stir until well mixed in. Important to use MINI chips. Full size chips won’t bake all the way and will leave a weird texture.

  2. Pour/scoop into the 9" springform pan and bake at 200°F for EIGHT DAMN HOURS.

  3. In the last 30 minutes of bake time, top with a handful of chopped hazelnuts mixed with a little sugar. The sugar will help it stick.

  4. After baking, sit on the countertop for several hours to reach room temp. I let mine sit for about 4 hours.

  5. Put a dinner plate on top, flip the whole thing upside down and remove the pan. I had found that some of the crust stuck to the pan so I just stuck it back on with a table knife. Nobody is going to see it anyway. ;)

  6. Refrigerate upside down AT LEAST 1 hour. We put ours in at 11:30 AM and didn’t take it out until 8:30 PM. The colder, the better.

  7. Take another dinner plate, place it on top, and flip it right side up for serving! Slice and enjoy!

Thanks to the folks at our local liquor store and Frangelico for helping make this happen. NORMALLY it’s orange flavored with Grand Marnier and orange extract. Wanted something a little more Oregon and nothing says Oregon like a little filbert hazelnut.